9/11: Seven Years Later

This is a repost from an entry I first put together after the attacks back in 2001. Some people may not have seen this so I’m reposting it so everyone will get the chance. Where were you?

September 11, 2001 – One of those days you’ll never forget where you were. I was working at a Detroit television station, WDIV, producing the noon newscast.

At the time the first plane went into the North Tower, I was out of the newsroom. One of our videotape editors ran toward me when I came back into the newsroom and started pointing at one of our TV monitors. He said “check out the wild pictures from New York.”

At the time, we weren’t aware that a plane had crashed into the building and it wasn’t an accident! We talked about how hard it would be for firefighters to fight a towering inferno.

There weren’t a lot of people in the newsroom at the time because most people didn’t arrive until around nine o’clock in the morning. By this point, all of the television feeds we got from NBC and CNN were on the towers.

Slowly, people started coming in and rushed to see the TV’s, they’d heard the story on their car radio. It was about that time when another plane slammed into the South Tower and then we all knew something wasn’t right, we were under attack.

I saw so many co-workers with tears in their eyes. These are people who deal with death everyday. Murders and other unexpected deadly accidents we deal with them every day and have to bring that news to people who watch our station. It’s sad you somewhat get immune to death. It’s not that every death doesn’t have an effect but you have to block it out a little.

This was different, this was an attack on America, this was something no one had ever experienced before. How could you deal with such a breach of our nation? How could you cope with the potential mass casualty? The world changed forever. The lives of an entire generation of people changed forever.

Now seven years later, Osama bin Laden is still on the run. Airport security is still high even though some critics still say the U.S. have much more to do to protect people.

I do recall the hunger for information and how little it trickled out on that day. We all couldn’t do any work. We just sat at our desks watching coverage on televisions with our mouths literally gaping open watching in total disbelief.

It’s a day none of us can or will be able to forget. We must not also forget the innocent people who lost their lives and their families who have to endure the pain of not having them each day and every anniversary of 9/11.

Life In The Mornings

With little sleep under my belt, I got into work at 3:00 this morning. Getting through 7:00am wasn’t the tough part. Getting through the rest of the day was!

Our assignment manager (the person who lines reporters and photographers up together and arms them with stories) had an off-site meeting. I took over her duties for a couple of hours. Assignment editing was one of my first jobs in television. Many times it’s a complicated and thankless job. You are constantly figuring out how to cover new stories while getting the ones you’ve already planned, finished. For some reason to me, it’s a challenge and can even be fun. (I’m waiting on mom2amara‘s comment on that last statement.)

It wouldn’t be right to talk about assignment editing without giving some kudos to the people who taught me how. Lisa Lowry and Danielle Fink walked me through “workin’ the desk” in the mornings and the evenings. They are both a different monster and both come with their own distinct problems.

We got through the morning with me “on the desk”. We even got a couple of spot news stories. I want to thank the photographers for making life “on the desk” a little easier for a “new face” who was sleep deprived.

When Am I Supposed To Sleep?

We’ve had a little management shake-up at work so I’m helping out on the morning newscast every morning. I’m going from someone who works nightside (or second shift) to someone who works overnights (third shift). My body’s going to be out of whack for the next couple of weeks.

I’m basically going back to basics. I really started out producing in television on the morning show at WKYC. I love morning shows but hate the hours, I mean hate them. Sure, there’s the whole 10am Friday morning you’re done concept but being up when everyone else is asleep is a little strange.

I have to apologize for so much picture blogging and not enough “blogging” posts. We’ve been so busy at work with the recent departures of several key co-workers. With the primary last week and the snowstorm this weekend, I think I logged almost 60 hours last week at work. mom2amara probably had even more but she’s a lot tougher than I am.

Hopefully things will calm down a little this week. Let’s not have any flooding or major news stories that will warrant continuing coverage or special newscasts. Let’s just take it easy for a bit. I need the rest and I’m not the only person!

By the way, I helped push about 5 cars out of snow drifts this weekend. I’ll have the video to prove it coming up this week.

Have a great one,

She Makes Me Laugh

If you haven’t watched Chelsea Handler on E!, you’re really missing out on smiles and laughs. She’s an excellent interviewer, she’s one of the wittiest people I think on TV right now.

Tonight, I watched her episode that included an interview with Leah Remini from “King of Queens”. Handler also went to to the doctor to find out what it would take for her to donate some of her eggs. The segment had me laughing out loud.

I have to set the DVR to record her show. I always forget when her show is on and I don’t want to miss her. You shouldn’t miss her either. She’s hilarious!